The United States Embassy's roundtable discussion on Friday stressed the need for increasing Pakistan's economic development and moving the relationship between the two countries from aid to trade. The 'Building Bridges Through Business' forum brought business people together by hosting the roundtable discussion with local entrepreneurs and business students, featuring two prominent Pakistani-American businessmen.
The interaction was aimed at promoting ideas to increase Pakistan's economic development and move the US-Pakistan relationship from aid to trade. The businessmen termed the entrepreneurship, with its focus on boosting job creation, as an effective way to improve economic growth and business connections between Pakistanis and Americans. US Embassy Mission Director of Communications Thomas Miller noted that the United States promotes increases in trade to help Pakistan meet its economic and social development needs, a mutual interest of the bi-national relationship.
Prominent Pakistani-American businessmen, Awais Khan and Shahid Ahmed Khan, shared their insights with local Pakistani entrepreneurs. Awais Khan, President and CEO of the American Pakistan Foundation (AFP), discussed his organisation's programs that aimed at increasing economic opportunities in Pakistan. Shahid Ahmed Khan, a social entrepreneur and pharmaceutical consultant, said that increased economic opportunities could mobilise groups for positive social and political change in Pakistan.
Currently, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) supports several projects helping Pakistanis meet their economic needs, said an official of the USAID, adding that working with the Pakistan Economic Growth forum, US Agency for International Development (USAID) supports business entrepreneurs, promotes policy reform, and strives to improve the business environment. One such project helps small and medium-sized business owners in Punjab, Sindh, FATA, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan build their businesses and create jobs in the community, the official added.